Early Years
Performance Indicators
1.01 Accessibility of Licensed Child Care Spaces1,2,3
Rationale
How easy or difficult it is for parents to find appropriate child care depends upon the availability of care near where they live. This ranges from significant difficulty finding appropriate care (undesirable as there may be lengthy waiting times to find a space), usually because spaces are full, to spaces are generally available (though there may be some difficulty finding care in specific locations).
The accessibility of appropriate child care for infant/toddler and age 3 – 5 is illustrated on the maps below. The shading on the map indicates the degree of difficulty, on average, parents experience finding child care in their Local Service Area. Generally, the more difficulty parents experience, the longer it takes to find an appropriate space. Through new child care improvements, Government is aiming to improve accessibility to child care.
Note on 2019/20 Accessibility Rate calculation: For the 2019/20 reporting year, improvements were made to the calculations used for the accessibility of licensed child care spaces. For more details about the calculation and what is included and excluded from the measure, please see the Reference Guide.
The three childcare measures (1.01) cannot be calculated for 2020/21, as program information used in the calculation of these measures was not available for large portions of 2020/21. They will be available again in 2021/22.